FBI Director Christopher Wray just confirmed, delicately, during congressional committee testimony, that in addition to the second Inspector General investigation, AG Bill Barr is personally looking into how the Russia probe began.

Wray: In addition to ongoing IG investigation "AG is seeking to understand better the circumstances at the department and the FBI relating to how this investigation started. And we're working to help him get that understanding. I think that's part of his job and part of my mine." pic.twitter.com/mrQhHCDuOc

April 26  Misfud tells Papadopoulos that Russia had "dirt" on Clinton in the form of emails.

May 6  Papadopoulos tells the representative of a foreign government that the Trump campaign knows that the Russian government could assist their efforts with the release of the "dirt" they had on Clinton.

July 22  WikiLeaks begins releasing documents stolen from the DNC.

July 26  The foreign government tells the U.S. about their representative's conversation with Papadopoulos.

July 31  The FBI opens its investigation.

That is the timeline that the FBI has consistently given for how the investigation was launched. Beginning as early as late 2015, British intelligence told the CIA about suspicious "interactions" between people connected to Trump and known or suspected Russian agents. Over the next six months, the CIA heard similar warnings from Germany, Estonia, Poland, and the Dutch-French intelligence service DGSE. The information about Papadopoulos and Misfud in late July came on the heels of all of that intelligence.

By then, Papadopoulos was actually the fourth member of the Trump campaign with suspicious ties to Russia. Also included were Paul Manafort, who was enlisted as campaign chair, as well as Michael Flynn and Carter Page. The Mueller report documents the ways in which all four of these men were recruited by Russian intelligence -- most of which was known by the CIA and FBI in the summer of 2016.

"I was very concerned by his use of the word spying, which I think is a loaded word," Shaheen said. "When FBI agents conduct investigations against alleged mobsters, suspected terrorists, other criminals, do you believe they're engaging in spying when they're following FBI investigative policies and procedures?"

"That's not the term I would use," Wray said of "spying." "So, I would say that's a no to that question.

Asked if he had "any evidence that any illegal surveillance" into the Trump 2016 campaign occurred, Wray said he did not.

"I don't think I personally have any evidence of that sort," Wray said.

If Trump's chosen FBI director says that there was no spying on the Trump campaign, why should AG Barr undertake a personal investigation into something that there is zero evidence of?

"has approached George Papadopoulos, an aide of Donald Trump during his presidential campaign, to help him to contact Russian authorities in the Kremlin, even for organizing a meeting between Trump and Putin. Mr. Mifsud is said to have given to the aide "dirty information" on Mrs. Clinton collected by the Russian. "This is nonsense", Mifsud comments"

....

"Ok. But what about the emails stolen from Mrs. Clinton? "The dirty job" offered to Papadopoulos? "I don't know. I strongly deny any discussion of mine about secrets concerning Hillary Clinton. I swear it on my daughter. I don't know anyone belonging to the Russian government: the only Russian I know is Ivan Timofeev, director of the think tank "Russian International affairs council". "

Now, where the rub really comes in for the FBI is that Mifsud is linked to US and Italian intelligence and perhaps even UK. He is clearly not a Russian agent and denies contact with Russians and offering Clinton dirt. What we do know is that Halper (known US intelligence asset) lured Papadopolous out of the US where he was very likely spied on by EU intelligence services because it was unlawful for the US to do it directly, set up meetings where they tried to set up a honey pot (didn't work) and ultimately had Halper begin the Russian allegations. This led to the 'tip off' by Downer (Aussie diplomat) which led to the surveillance based on Papadopolous telling him about the Clinton dirt from Mifsud (who is a US intelligence asset).

This whole thing was a giant set up and we have some recurring themes.

Downer - part of a $36M scam with the Clinton foundation currently under investigation
Mifsud - a part of the Clinton foundation